The café racer craze of 1950s/’60s produced a craze for ‘special’ motorcycles with better performance than factory products, or that were at least faster-looking. Based mostly on the configuration of production and Grand Prix racers of the period, a classic café racer is built with as many racing components as one could afford, up to and including actual racing chassis. In the late 1950s, the popularity of 500cc car racing (Formula Junior) meant Norton Manx racers were robbed of their engines, which went into Cooper cars. The leftover chassis was an inexpensive start for a café racer, and the most common ‘hot’ motorcycle engine available was the Triumph T120 Bonneville, introduced in 1959. A crashed Bonnie provided a cheap engine for an empty Manx chassis, giving birth to the ‘Triton,’ a mashup of Triumph and Norton. The Triton became an iconic motorcycle design, and excellent examples of the genre are revered for their high style, place in history and performance. Not all Tritons were built with Bonneville engines, and the Norton frame was capacious enough to house engines as diverse as Velocette and BSA Gold Star singles, and Vincent V-twins. A rare and beautiful Triton variant is the Triple Triton, using a 3-cylinder Triumph T150 motor, introduced in 1968. The Triumph triple engine was a 750cc pushrod design, producing 10 HP more than the twin-cylinder model. The appeal of the 3-cylinder engine is clear for a Triton, but the combination remains very rare. This ‘King Triton’ was designed by Jerry Liggett, and built by Triple Specialties with Jerry Ligget. It uses a modified Triumph T150 engine, with tri-spark ignition, an electric start, Megacycle 1100 cams, Norman Hyde big-bore cylinders, Carillo rods, X75 cylinder heads ported and flowed, a lightened and polished valve train with titanium keepers, lightened timing gears, a lightened flywheel and clutch assembly, a Norman Hyde sintered iron clutch, with an electric starter! The pumped 1060cc motor now lives in a 1966 Norton ‘Slimline’ Featherbed frame with a Wideline rear subframe. This Triton is truly the King.

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Information found on the website is presented as advance information for the auction lot. Photos, materials for videos, descriptions and other information are provided by the consignor/seller and is deemed reliable, but Mecum Auction does not verify, warrant or guarantee this information. The lot and information presented at auction on the auction block supersedes any previous descriptions or information. Mecum is not responsible for information that may be changed or updated prior to the auction. The decision to purchase should be based solely on the buyers personal inspection of the lot at the auction site prior to the auction.